All Characters of this story are at Approperiate Age

Chapter 1: Goodbye old life-A rogue Welcome

Growing up in my life was never easy for me. Normally when you feel down or have trouble, you go to your parents and family….if only it were that easy for me.

My name is Ace Hark, I'm 21 years old, black spiky hair and blue eyes. I grew up in a decently wealthy family. I have a mom, dad and younger sister. All was okay at first…until my sister became a spoiled bitch. Didn't help that my parents gave her whatever she wanted at the drop of a hat. It disgusted me.

Whenever she doesn't get her way, my parents would sue or even hurt others to satisfy her needs. As for me I was basically at the very bottom of our families totem pole. My own parents put me to work on keeping the house clean, making food, and serving them. I had pretty much become the servant rather than their son.

There were times I tried standing up to them, but it backfired and my dad would pulverize me into submission. He was a boxer before he retired and he still hits like a truck. Serving my parents was a pain, but my sister was the worst. She does things on purpose to amuse herself and enjoy my suffering, even getting me in trouble for no reason. I was sick of it, so in my free time I had learned and trained in many different fighting styles and survival skills, even working out my body in secret.

Years of this conflict and suffering were painful, but my days were coming to an end. This is where my story begins.

"Servant! A foot massage!" My sister snapped her fingers repeatedly while I was fixing up her favorite tea. Yup it has gotten to the point she doesn't call me by my name either because she forgot it or simply doesn't give a shit.

"Yes mistress…" I spoke before I came to her. Kneeling, I grabbed her foot and massaged it. I'm just glad she never took up sports to get Athlete's foot.

"Good servant." She hummed happily…then she snapped her fingers. "Where's my tea? I need my tea." This was another thing she makes me do multiple things at once no matter how impossible it is. I got up and went to the table to get her tea before she snapped her fingers. "I didn't say walk away! I need my foot massaged!" I could feel a tick mark forming on my forehead. I quickly poured her tea before giving it to ehr and resuming her massage.

"About time." She spoke before she sipped her drink. I sighed in my head while I rubbed her foot. She suddenly coughed out a sip and scowled. "You forgot the honey! Useless servat!" She then threw the mug at me, not just hitting my head but the hot liquid splashed my face.

"Gah!" I yelled as I held my face and fell on the ground.

"Stop your whining and get me more tea!" She demanded. I don't know how much more I can take before I put her into a coma! I got up to make her more tea. But, she held her leg out before I tripped and fell. "Lazy clutz of a servant." She is really testing my patience today!

I got up with a groan. "Can you please-"

"No talking back to me!" She snapped and slapped my ass hard. With all the beating I had taken it didn't even tickle. "You are so useless." She grew a grin before she started bawling. "Mommy! Daddy!" Great here we go again for the hundred fucking time today.

My parents burst in and comforted my sister. "Honey what happened?" Mom cooed like an angel.

"My servant hit me!" She pointed at me. My eye twitched from the bullshit she spouted, something I had developed over the years.

Dad turned to me with a scowl while cracking his knuckles. "You little shit." I honestly have seen my so-called father threaten me so many times I've gone numb to it.

I grunted when I was tossed in my room after my beating he gave me. "No food for you tonight you brat!" He yelled and slammed the door. I simply stood up and popped my back and neck as my body had gotten too tough for his punches to be really effective.

I plopped on my bed with a sigh. "I hate my life…I want to die." I have had this thought in my head ever since my life went to hell. I sighed again before shutting them as I iced to hungry slumber.

(Dream)

My eyes opened as I found myself in a dark void. "Huh? What is this place?" I heard the sound of glittering before looking up. Above me were seven glittering lights. White, green, gold, red, blue, orange and pale. "Okay this is different." The lights shined brighter before showing me a massive door with seven star shapes on it before it opened. Darkness within flowing out of it. "What the actual hell?" I couldn't help but back up seeing the darkness flowing like a plague.

There was nothing but darkness inside the door. But, I soon saw the silhouette of a long bodied figure with long hair and a gold crown. They stuck out so much from the darkness like it wasn't even touching them. I felt a massive shiver down my spine, as if this figure was watching me. Then I saw two massive hands slowly reaching out from the darkness to me. I backed up in fear at the sight of them coming my way.

But, the hands backed away when five figures ran past me and into the door as it closed shut. Okay…what the hell was that about? The seven glittering lights remained before they came down to me and surrounded me in a circle.

"You….are the one." A female voice spoke.

"Say what?" I blinked.

"You must help…or she will return." Another female voice added.

"Help with what? And who?" I questioned. No other reply came before the glittering lights came closer to me. "Wait, get away! Get back!" The lights surrounded me before everything went white.

"You think he's ok?"

"What do you think? He fell from the sky."

"He looks uninjured."

"Shh, he's waking up."

"Ugh." I groaned as I rubbed my head as I sat up. "Ow my head."

"You okay?" I looked up before blinking. Around me were little humanoids with white heads with colored circles and…bomb people?

"Um yes.." I repiled not sure wither to be worried on not being near living bombs.

"Well, you seem to be okay scallywag." A bomb guy with an eyepatch spoke. "Where in the seven seas did you come from?"

"Not really sure how to answer that." I admitted. I looked around and saw I was on some kind of shipping dock or something. "Wait…where am I even?"

"You're standing on the Rogueport docks." One of the big round hat guys replied.

"Rogueport?" I blinked as I got to my feet.

"Guess you really are not from around here." A blue bomb guy with a sailor hankerchief around his head replued. "Rogueport is known to be a tough place with thugs and fighters. Only the tough of nails sail to these places."

Okay how the hell did I end up here last thing I know I was in my room after my asshole father tossed me in. Then that weird dream and…wait. Those glittering lights! Was that even a dream at all or some kind of vision?

"Hey look a ship is docking!" A bomb guy called. Looking ahead a ship was indeed docking. There was commotion going on, before a plank came down. Stepping out from the boat…whoa. It was a brunette girl. Their eyes were dazzling red. She wore a red shirt with blue overalls and brown shoes. On her head was a red hat with an "M" on it. Her body figure waas curvy yet I can see some toned muscles. And her assets stood out too. From her size, she might be a G-cup. She definitely sticks out from the locals around here.

When she got off, the boat left. She looked around while humming. "She should be here…maybe she's in town square." Her voice was elegant like wine with a hint of italian thrown in. she walked around before she set her eyes on me. She approached with a smile. "Hello. Could you help me if you can?"

"With what?" I asked politely. I may have grown up with a horrible family, but I never forget my manners to others who are not like them. Though if I do encounter someone like that im gonna be rude as hell thats for sure.

"Im looking for-" She stared.

"Get the hell away from me you fucking freak!" A tomboy female voice shouted. It made us both jump a bit before looking to the source toward the entrance to the docks. Nearby was a girl in a button explorer shirt, pants and an explorer hat with a light. She had blonde hair tied to a ponytail. Confronting her was a big fat chubby guy in a purple horned hat with goggles, wore a black uniform with a white "X" on it and red scarf around his neck. Next to him were similar soldiers in white hats and red uniforms with black "X"s on them.

"Oh come off it, you airhead! I know its tough fo you, but don't play dumb with me!" The chubby man stated. "I've seen you walking around town asking for information about the Crystal Stars. Well, now I'm doing the asking. So tell us what we want to know! right NOW!"

"Fuck you! I don't have anything to say to you creeps!" The girl spat while flipping them off.

"I suppose it wouldn't be right if a sassy little lass like you met an untimely demise…" He trailed off before laughing gruffly. "Buh! Buh Buh! Buh huh huh! Boys, we're taking this firebrand to the fortress!"

"As you command, Lord Crump! We're on it!" One of the smaller lackeys replied as they came closer to the girl.

"N-no! Stop right there you weirdos." She warned in fear. "I'll scream! Really!"

Something inside me made me run up to the scene and skid. "HEY!" They stopped and turned to me. "How about you pricks make off and leave her be!?"

The girl took her chance and quickly ran behind me. "Like I'd go anywhere with smelly lunatics like you! Hmph! Not likely!"

"Whuh?" The big guy named Crump spoke. "What do you think YOU'RE doing chump? You think you can screw up my plans!?"

"If your plans are to kidnap this lady then yes." I stated firmly.

"Gah! It's always something…." He grumbled. "Looks like i'm gonna have to give you a little taste of the old CRUMP-A-BOMB!" He rushed at me. I pushed the girl back as he jumped to dogpile me. I jumped to the side with a skid before rushing at him with a spin kick to the face. He grunted in pain and rubbed where I struck him. "You damn chump!" He got up to tackle me again.

I braced in ready, but then the red wearing girl from before jumped in front of me. I blinked before she pulled out a hammer out of nowhere and swung it. She struck Crump as he yelled and slammed against a wall nearby.

"Wow thanks miss." I spoke to her.

She smiled at me with a thumbs up. "I got your back." I nodded before seeing Crump get up. He fumed and rushed at us. We nodded before rushing at him. Cupping my hands, she jumped and landed a foot in my cupped hands.

"Alley-oop!" I yelled and tossed her forward. She swung her body and struck the guy in the head. He yelled in pain before I skid down and swung an uppercut to the chin. He grunted loudly as he was sent flying onto his back. The girl landed next to me as I grinned and cracked my neck. "That's how it's done."

The two grunts ran to Crump and helped him up. "Lord Crump, are you okay?"

He grunted as he got up before laughing a bit. "Buh Buh Buh huh huh huh! Okay you got a couple of decent shots in. I'll give you that." He stood up as I could tell he was grinning under his scarf. "But…unfortunately for you that means….IT'S GO TIME!"

That was when numerous lackies like the other two appeared out of nowhere and surrounded me, and the two girls. "...aw shit." I spoke.

"PUNISH THEM!" Crump ordered before the group swarmed us.

I was avoiding them as best I could in the chaos. "Hey!" I looked out and saw the explorer girl waving. "Quick! This way!" Me and the brunette quickly ran to her as the lackeys were too busy to notice. She grinned at the mob. "Phew! What a bunch of loons. Lets sneak out of here."

"Agreed." The two of us nodded before we quickly ran up the stairs and into the town.

We soon came across what looked like the main square of Rogueport. There were old buildings and shops, along with a noose in the center of it. That bomb guy wasn't kidding this place does look tough as nails.

We got our breath before the tomboy smiled at us. "Man. You guys totally saved me! Thanks!"

"Eh no problem ma'am." I smiled.

"After all it was this guy who made the first move." The brunette mused, elbowing me a bit. I blushed a bit.

"I just GOT to give you a little reward for your help." The girl beamed before she came close to me and planted a kiss on my cheek. I couldn't help but blush deeply at the sudden gesture. This was the first time I ever got a kiss from a girl. She backed up with a smile. "My name's Goombella. I'm a student at the University of Goom. Nice to meet ya both."

I was able to calm my face down. "You too, my name is Ace."

"And I'm Maria." The brunette greeted as well.

Goombella gasped in shock. "You mean THE Maria!? The hero of the Mushroom Kingdom!?" Hero of the what kingdom? She's famous? "Oh my god! I can't believe you're here of all places! I heard so much about you!"

"Hehe I get that a lot." Maria chuckled sheepishly. …huh, honestly I wasn't expecting this response. From experience, my parents and sister would always boast a lot about their titles when they meet new people who are rich or famous. All the while making sure no one knows i'm related to them. Yet, Maria was….different.

Goombella calmed down. "So you two just rolled into town, right?"

"Pretty much." We replied in unison.

"Well, I HATE it here!" She scoffed while looking around. "There are a bunch of freaks and weirdos EVERYWHERE! It's disgusting!" She crossed her arms. "I mean, I know this place is called Rogueport, I should have expected this but sheesh!"

I scratched my head. "If you hate it here so much…then why ARE you here?"

"Well I would never come to a place like this if it weren't for the legendary treasure here." Goombella answered.

Maria perked up. "The Legendary Treasure? That's why I'm here!"

"You too? seriously?!" The blonde blanched in surprise.

"Girls." The pair turned to me. "Im new of all this…what ae you talking about?"

"According to legend, there used to be a town that once stood here on Rogueport long ago, but some kind of accident happened that caused the town to disappear." Goombella answered. "In the stories, there's a legendary treasure buried deep underground. The only way to find it is with a special treasure map."

"I think I got something like that." Maria replied as she pulled a folded piece of paper from her overall before unfolding it and showed us.

"Oh my gosh! That has to be it!" The blonde gawked. "Where did you get that from!?"

"Princess Peach set it to me." The brunette replied.

"Princess peach?" I asked.

"Great Hoogly-Boogly! If it isn't mistress Maria!" An old gruffy man called. We turned as we saw a short old man wearing a mushroom hat that was white with brown spots, facing looking purple clothes and carrying a cane with a mushroom matching his hat on it. "Bit of a coincidence, bumping into one another in this sort of place, hm? Ho ho!"

"Oh Toadsworth." Maria spoke. "Good seeing you again sir."

"Yes, quite right." The man nodded. "So tell me, what in the world brings you to this wretched little burg?"

"Well Princess Peach sent me a letter and this treasure map and told me to meet me here." She replied.

Toadsworth hummed before perking up. "Ah yes! I remember now. Princess Peach rushed past me in a hurry with some old paper in her hands before she wrote a letter. I didn't have time to ask how much of a hurry she was in."

"Do you know where she is?" Maria asked.

"...well, I was about to ask you that." He replied. "We stopped in this town to acquire a spot of fuel for our ship, don't you know…I only took my eye off her for a moment, but as soon as I did, she vanished."

"Oh no!" She yelled.

"But, you know how headstrong she is, Maria. I just assumed she'd be back momentarily." Toadsworth said. "But at this point, I fear we must embrace the possibility that she may never return. I've been at a loss as to what to do. I've been fraught with worry, I tell you!" I guess Toadsworth is some kind advisor for this Princes Peach. "But, I'm feeling better with you here, Mistress Maria. Surely we'll find her. Surely!"

"You can count on me." She nodded with a thumbs up.

"Good show my dear." He spoke happily. "I'll leave this task to you. I'll recline in the inn right now at the right side of the square over there." He pointed to a building with a bed image hanging overhead. "I'll just enjoy myself with a spot of tea, perhaps. I'll be sure to rent you and your new friends some beds for the night so you may be rested for your adventure tomorrow."

"Thanks Toadsworth." Maria smiled.

"Well, I must say though, the rest of this town is a bit…rough. Yes, rough indeed." He replied before walking off to the inn.

Goombella then turned to Maria. "Um…Princes Peach? Did you mean like, Peach the Mushroom Kingdom princess?! The princess who is always nabbed my Bowsa? The Koopa Queen? The one you rescue?" She scratched her head. "Wait a sec. This is crazy! Princess…PEACH sent you that treasure map?"

"Sure did." Maria nodded.

"Whoa. That's really intense. But, where do you think she has gone to?" The blonde asked. "Maybe got sick of waiting and went to find the treasure on her own?"

The brunette hummed, rubbing her chin. "Possibly she can be pretty adventurous."

"If the map she sent was the thing that can lead her to the treasure, she would need it." I implied.

"That is true…" Goombella replied before perking up. "Ooh! Ooh! Wait, I think I know someone who can help us!"

"Who?" We asked.

"One of my professors from my University." She replied. "He's here on Rogueport studying on the treasure right now. If we start looking for the treasure, we might bump into Princess Peach!"

"That seems like our best course of action." I shrugged.

"Awesome!" She beamed. "From here on out, I'll be with you guys and help to the best of my ability."

"You can handle yourself?" Maria asked.

"I may not look like it, but I did take a few defense classes at school." She mused. "Plus I have a great memory when it comes to many places and people, so if you need to know anything, I'm your Goomba girl." Well I got nothing better to do, and this treasure may have something to do with why I'm here.

"So do you know where he lives?" I asked.

Goombella grinned sheepishly. "...no, I don't." This caused the two of us to faceplant. "But I know he's here in rogueport somewhere." She pulled from her pocket a picture of an elder man in a lab coat with funny looking glasses on. "But he looks like this so we can keep our eyes out for him."

We got back up as Maria looked around. "Okay…lets try looking the west side of town first." Wee nodded and head to the gate nearby.

While approaching, we saw a mid elder mushroom woman with yellow spots and a black dress with a red apron looking around. The moment she saw us, she snapped at us. "FREEZE!" We halted completely. "You three! Not another step! Don't come this way!"

"Something the matter miss?" I asked.

"Some complete ASSHOLE just bumped into me and made me lose my contact lens!" She stated. "I'm looking for it right now, so DON'T YOU DARE MOVE!" She looked around on the ground. "You hear me? Whatever you do. Do NOT move an inch!, NOT AN INCH, YOU HERE?!"

We stayed in place while she looked around. I whispered to Goombella. "Who's the grumpy grandma?"

"From what I know, that's Zess T. She's one of the best chefs in Rogueport." She replied. "She can take almost anything and make them into fine and tasty dishes."

"Good to know." I spoke. I honestly would love to taste something good for once. I only got fed scraps and even trash from my family back home. So I did have a craving for some homemade cooking. "Miss Zess-" I only moved my foot just a centimeter when…

*crunch!*

I moved my foot and saw the crushed remains of a contact lens. "...Oops."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Zess shouted angrily when she saw what happened. "IDIOT! You stepped on it! My Poor contact Lens! I told you NOT TO MOVE! Didn't your stupid ears work!? What were you thinking!?"

"I'm sorry I didn't mean for that to happen." I replied.

She barged up to me and jabbed my chest. "This is YOUR fault! I have to get a new contact lens! But YOU'RE going to pay for it!" She jabbed me harder. "Compensate me, Mr. Clumsy!"

"But…I don't have any money on me." I confessed. "We kind of have to make our way past you."

She fumed before running to the gate to the west side. "Fine! If that's your plan, here's MINE! I'm blocking the west gate side until you bring me another contact lens!" Seriously?! That's just plain petty!

"Miss the person we're looking for might be over there!" I stated.

"I don't care!" She snapped. "Until you get me a new lens, I'm not budging! I can't cook without a lens to see!" Dammit all.

Maria patted my shoulder. "It's alright Ace. We'll fix this problem."

I sighed. "Right." we walked off from the gate. "That crazy old coot…"

"She's not really wrong, you did crush it." Goombella mentioned.

"Not helping Goombella." I replied bluntly.

"...sorry." She replied sheepishly. "But if we're going to buy a lens, let's stop by the shop and see if they have one." She guided us to the shop which was a building with a red flower image on top of it.

"Huh, convenient." I commented. We walked in and saw a vast line of items on display. Some included the red flower, some large red mushrooms, pitchers with yellow liquid, a sheep with a clock, and a black reptilian mask. This is an odd selection for a shop.

We walked up to a worker who was a mushroom guy with a beard. "Ah, customers. What can I help you with today?"

"Do you happen to have any contact lenses sir?" Maria asked.

He hummed. "One moment please." He walked to another worker as they chatted a bit before he approached us again. "I'm terribly sorry, but we're out of stock for the moment. But, I can put in an order for one. Just come back in a few days to check if we have it."

I sighed a bit. "Well its better than nothing, thanks anyway."

We exit the shop. "Well, since we can't go to the west side, let's try the east." Goombella suggested.

"Good idea." Maria nodded.

We passed through the gate to the east. The moment we passed by, some guy in blue clothes and a mask ran by and knocked Maia down. "Oops! Pardon me sucker!"

"Hey what's your beef pal!?" Goombella shouted. "YEAH I'M TALKING TO YOU!"

I helped Maria up. "You okay?"

"Yeah." She nodded as she dusted herself off before she felt her pockets. "...wait a sec."

"What is it?"

"...half of my money is gone!" She gasped. "I had a hundred coins on me!"

"Bastard pickpocket you!" I realized before I ran after him.

"Wait Ace!" Goombella called but she groaned. "Oh what the hell…" the two caught up with me as we ran back to the main square and looked around. "Where did he go?"

"He has to be here." I spoke.

"From what I saw, he looked like a bandit." Maria replied.

"And if I know my knowledge, Bandits like to be in places people wouldn't like to be in." I realized. Then we saw an alleyway on the north end of the square. "Bingo." We ran to the alley way, which looked promising. We saw what looked like a dog man looking through some cards as we approached him. "Hey pal." He looked up. "Did you see a blue bandit come back here not too long ago?" He jerked a thumb towards a shake at the end of the alleyway. "Thanks." We headed to the door and opened it.

Immediately we were greeted by a foul sour odor with flies flying around, a shit ton of junk everywhere with a stained dirty mattress on the side of the shack. Good lord it's a pigsty! Goombella clasped her nose. "Oh great stars above!"

"Seems worse than a dumpster." I gagged. I turned to Maria who looked unfazed. "How are you not heaving from this?"

"I'm a plumber, so I'm used to foul smells like this." She replied. "Just trust me on this."

I nodded before seeing the blue bandit at the edge of the shack with coins jiggling in his palms. "Hey bastard!"

"Eeeeeooops!" He yelped. "Uh…fancy meeting you here! Your pretty damn persistent buddy! What a pain!" Maria approached him with a stern look before holding her hand out. "Fine, fine OK? I'll give you back your coins." He handed her the coins he stole. "There."

Maria counted them up before nodding. "Next time, don't steal from others, or you might be on the receiving end of a weapon to the face." With that we left and exited the ally.

"You shouldn't have let him off that easy." I clarified. "He stole from you, should have at least got a wack in the head for it."

"I only use violence for defense. Besides, he's only a petty thief. He wouldn't hurt anyone if he tried." Maria explained. "So it's not a good reason to punish him."

"As much as I hate this town and its creeps like him, Maria has a point." Goombella nodded. "Unless someone feels me up, then I'll give them a beating."

I rubbed my head. "...I guess I can't argue with that logic." it's different being around people like these two…I wonder what else I'll be facing in this new place.